FILE - Flags fly in front of Lakewood Church in this June 28, 2005 file photo. A service at 11 a.m. April 27 will honor military caregivers. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)

Photo: PAT SULLIVAN, STF

FILE - Flags fly in front of Lakewood Church in this June 28, 2005...

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Lakewood Church seats 16,800 people at its central campus, which previously was the Compaq Center, a basketball stadium. File photo: ( Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle )

Photo: Nick De La Torre, Staff

Lakewood Church seats 16,800 people at its central campus, which...

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Joel, left, and Victoria Osteen, right, co-pastors of Houston's Lakewood Church, visited Morocco for the filming of "Son of God," a feature film that tells the story of Jesus. The Osteens' friends, Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, are the film's producers.

Lakewood Church is a nondenominational Christian megachurch along Houston's Southwest Freeway. It hosts the largest congregation in the U.S. and its pastor, Joel Osteen, is a national celebrity. (Eric Kayne / Houston Chronicle)

Joel Osteen preaches during a worship service he leads with his wife, Victoria, Sunday, at Lakewood Church, the congregation he took over 8 years ago after the death of his father, John Osteen, founder of the institution. Osteen moved the congregation from its outgrown northeast Houston established site to the building formerly known as the Compaq Center and before that as the Summit, where the Houston Rockets won two championships, circuses entertained with clowns, tigers and elephants and numerous rock stars had packed audiences on their feet, not unlike today's service. Sunday, Sept. 30, 2007, in Houston. (Steve Ueckert / Chronicle)

Lakewood Church Pastor Joel Osteen, left, stands next to his wife Victoria Osteen, who's the Church's Co-Pastor, as singers and the band perform on stage during his 11 a.m. service, Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011, in Houston. Olsteen's church averages about 40,000 people in attendance per week.

Parishioners attending services at Houston's Lakewood Church on Sunday lamented the theft of $600,000 in cash and checks from a church safe just a week earlier.

"It's a disappointment," Larry Zavala, a five-year member, said. "Even in the House of the Lord, it's not safe."

The Houston Police Department is investigating the theft of $200,000 in cash, $400,000 in checks and some handwritten credit card numbers from an office safe sometime March 9 or early March 10 when an employee discovered the money was missing.

"The funds were fully insured, and we are working with our insurance company to restore the stolen funds to the church," Lakewood officials said in a statement last week.

His wife, Kim Garcia, added: "All you can do is pray about that person because you don't know what people go through or why they'd do something like that."

As their son, 3-year-old Jesse James Garcia, hugged Kim's leg, she said she was grateful the money was insured so ministries and outreach would not be affected.

"Everybody's gonna want to throw the book at 'em, but if they knew Christ, they wouldn't do that," she said.

In an email to members and statements to the press, church leaders emphasized no electronic information was stolen and that the theft did not affect people who donated online or in drop boxes at the church. They asked that anyone concerned about their donation to monitor their bank accounts for fraudulent activity and to call Lakewood's customer service line at 713-491-1506.